Student Success Stories

Nathan Lynch: BMW on His Horizon

Since entering the Bryan MBA program last August, Nathan Lynch has been investing a little time each week to search for a quality internship experience for this summer. Now with a few weeks remaining in the academic year, he has finalized his decision. Almost immediately after finishing his final exams, Nathan will start an internship with the only BMW factory in the United States.

Nathan will be working in the areas of technology and business communications where his principal responsibility will be writing business cases for BMW executives. In his reports, Nathan will be explaining the latest technologies that R&D has proposed and the feasibility of integrating these technologies into new models of BMW automobiles.

Because BMW’s plant is located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Nathan will stay at a corporate apartment during the week and then make the three hour drive back to Greensboro to spend weekends with his family. Not any easy balancing act, but Nathan’s take on it is that it is only for three months and during the week he will be able to devote himself entirely to his work at BMW.

An alumnus of UNCG, Nathan majored in exercise and sports science. After completing his bachelor’s degree in 2004, he went to work for EcoFlo where he was a technical services representative for three years. “It was a tough decision as to whether I should work on my MBA part-time or go back to school full-time. I talked it over with my wife and we decided that the opportunity was there for me to pursue my MBA as a full-time student. If it wasn’t for her support I wouldn’t be as successful in the program as I am today.”

Despite receiving attractive offers from top-ranked MBA programs in the Northeast, Nathan decided to stay home to pursue his MBA. “As far as the curriculum was concerned, they were not offering anything that I could not get here. My classes are small and the professors are very enthusiastic about their subjects.”

When he’s not in class, working in the MBA Office as a graduate assistant, or doing homework, Nathan says the precious free time he has is spent with his family and playing with his three-year old son. As he reaches the halfway point in the program, he does not expect his second year to be any less demanding. He will begin using his twelve hours of elective credit to pursue the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Information Technology and in September Nathan and his wife are expecting their second child.

-April 2008